The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-09-28
BOB BURDETTE ON THE FLAG.
why the Veterans Dislike the Combina
ton of Cleveland and the Stars and

why the Veterans Dislike the Combina-
ton of Cleveland and the Stars and
Stripes.
1t seems to me that the hostility which
the old soldiers exhibit toward the COM
bination of President Cleveland and the
United States flag is easily explained. 1t
is simply an emanation of the soldier
spirit; il is the soul of a soldiers life and
habit-obedience to orders.
Along some time "endurin' the war" the
mob of camp followers and spectators
who followed the Union army for gain and
plumber got to using the United States flag
as an advertisement. 1t floated over and
in front of every shoddy store in Cairo and
Memphis, and painted across the Stars
and Stripes was the name of the firm that
was making 81 on every bill of 30 cents it
sold. The flag was dishonored by greedy
robbers, who loved the soldier only for
what they could take out of him, and
waved the flag over his head while
they went through his pockets. l think
il was Grant--a soldier naturally thinks
that every good thing that was done
during the war was done by Grant
possibly while he was commanding the
military division of the Mississippi; at any
rate, 1t was some Union General who is
sued an order forbidding this Dissertation
~
emblem of our noble and glorious cause;
every star was sacred to the soldier; that
banner was his hourly inspiration; daily he
braved death under its folds, and he prayed
that il might be his winding sheet when he
died. To daub upon its azure field the fat
face of some civilian who never spoke O
warm hearted word for the Union until he
found there was some profit to be made out
of its defenders; to scrawl across its silken
folds the name of some trader whose
greedy hand was plunged into the soldiers
pocket; to use the flag as an advertising
sheet for pack Of camp followers-was a
disgrace, an outrage, shameful dishonor.
| And so the General commanding ordered
| that oil such signs should be taken down
| by the provost guard, and that no man
should ever again dare use the flag of our
country to advertise himself and his shoddy
wares, while daily it was made more sacred
than ever, baptized in the fire of battle and
| the life blood of brave men. The thought,
the feeling that inspired the order was born
in the heart of soldier, and the army APP
plauded it.
Well, now, the old soldiers have not for
gotten that order, and to this day the
Grand Army hates to see the flag used as
an advertisement for dry goods, for salt
fish, for tar, for gimlets, for treacle, taffy,
popularity votes, or anything else. No
mans portrait has any right on the United
States fag-the Presidents or the post
suffers, or even p. T. Barnum's. The fag
was never made for the purpose; it wasni
intended, when it was designed, to be O
national picture gallery. And no man who
loves it, as do the men who marched, and
fought, and suffered under it, likes to see
it disfgured. They remember the flag very
distinctly as it was when they carried il
into battle, and President Cleveland's pic
ture wasn't painted on it them why ther
should it be there now' 1t is soldierly il
the men of the Grand Army to obey orders
Forever float that standard Sheet" blu
down with the advertisements.
ROnFUT i RURnFTTP